Once banned: Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

Post by Lindsay Kelly

Although “Banned Books Week” already passed, occurring from September 30^th to October 6^th, I still think it is a week that deserves due attention, particularly during an election season when we hear so much about the importance of free speech. It was started in the early 1980s in response to increasing attempts to monitor what books were being read in schools and made available in libraries.[1]

This list of books includes works that challenged the limits of what free speech entails, and for various reasons, were deemed too dangerous, too risqué, or too inciting to be read by the public. And perhaps surprisingly (or not!) some of these books are also some of the most influential books in the U.S. (as deemed by the Library of Congress):[2]

1) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

2) The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

3) Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

4) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

5) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

6) Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

7) Native Son by Richard Wright

8) The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

9) The Color Purple by Alice Walker

10) The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

11) Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

12) Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Please share your thoughts about this list! Were you surprised by some of the works on here, or not??

Lindsay Kelly is a PhD candidate in English literature at the University of Maryland. She studies Caribbean literature and literature of the black diaspora, and some of her favorite authors include Amitav Ghosh, Edwidge Danticat, Michelle Cliff, Pauline Melville, and Gabriel García Márquez.

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Amazon is reportedly testing a new retail store concept.

This is bound to be controversial, but Amazon is reportedly opening a store in Seattle to test the idea of launching their own retail chain. The store(s) will reportedly focus on the Kindle, but also the growing list of books published by Amazon.

Yep, Amazon has been launching their own books for some time now, driving publishers to new levels of crazy.

Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with Amazon.  Its growing power can seem out of control.  But the reason they dominate, quite frankly, is that they do everything so well.  They’ve vastly improved the online shopping experience for everyone, and this goes far beyond books:  I buy my antacid on Amazon now, for 30% below everywhere else.

Yet I fully understand how Amazon has created massive turbulence in the publishing world, dislodging countless book stores, published and authors.  The reading world since Amazon is a very different world.  And it appears that new world is about to chance once again.

The idea of launching stores is a tremendous undertaking.  Yes, Apple has enjoyed huge success with its stores, but that’s the rare exception.  The article mentions that Amazon appears to prefer the “boutique” store concept, indicating a small store size.  That tells me it will largely, if not totally, focus on the reading market.

As a reader, what do you think about Amazon opening its own stores?  Share your thoughts by commenting below.

Be nice, this is a family-friendly blog!

Happy reading!

GoneReading Tip of the Day: Turn your spare change into FREE Books!

I stumbled across this little trick recently, and I couldn’t believe my luck.  Like many people, I throw my spare change into a bowl at the end of each day, and it just sort of piles up over time.  I used to roll them up every few years and take them to the bank, but who has the time?

I knew about the Coinstar machines at the grocery store, but I also knew they keep something like 9% of the total for themselves.

But recently I stumbled across this little fact: Now Coinstar gives you the option to redeem your change for an Amazon gift card.  Better yet, when you do so, they deduct absolutely nothing for themselves.  That’s right, there’s no fee when you redeem your spare change for an Amazon gift card!

Pack up those buckets of change you’ve been hording for years, and take them down to the nearest Coinstar machine.  Within minutes the machine will sort all of your change at no cost to you.  When checking out, simply select the Amazon Gift Card option.  The machine prints a receipt with a special code to use when making your Amazon purchase.

Don’t take my word for it: Read about it here.  Click here to find a Coinstar machine near you.

Know Any Young Readers?

Taking it a step further, here’s a little idea for the young readers in your life: Get them to start collecting their own spare change to exchange for books.  Maybe even offer up a year long challenge, matching their savings dollar for dollar.  Come Christmas time, they can cash their change in for a bunch of new books!

Of course, the books aren’t exactly free.  Your spare change is money, so there’s nothing free about it.  But let’s face it, that loose change is just sitting there not being used, and now you can cash it in without paying any fee.

Plus, any headline with the word FREE in it is going to get a lot of attention.  I read that in a book somewhere.

I hope you enjoy this little tidbit, courtesy of GoneReading.

Happy reading!

I love F. Scott Fitzgerald as much as the next guy, but would you have this tattooed on your arm?

Readers of this blog know that I periodically post links to websites and stories of particular interest to the bookish.  Over the last few months I’ve been compiling a list of such stories that are particularly ghoulish or creepy, knowing that it might make an interesting Halloween post.

So here they are.  Don’t be scared, but do share your thoughts by commenting below!

• Ever wonder what Tolstoy, Goethe, or Dante actually looked like?  It turns out that many literary and historical figures used to have three dimensional plaster casts made of their faces after death.  Check out these “life/death” masks here.
• Dressing up as your favorite literary character for Halloween is for sissies.  Real fans have such likenesses permanently tattooed on their bodies, just like these twenty fanatics did. Ouch, reading never hurt so bad!
• Learn the 12 weirdest ways in which famous authors met their maker by clicking here.  Who puts these lists together?
• I’m sure you’ve spent plenty of time arguing over which cemeteries have the most literary figures buried within them.  Argue no more, and read which cemetery is the most literary?

I actually have a fifth story that is so creepy I couldn’t bring myself to post it.  Let’s just say it involves books that were professionally bound in human skin.  If I get a bunch of people commenting below that they just have to see it, I might just post the link.

But I warn you, it’s really bizarre.

Nonetheless, happy reading, and happy Halloween!

Book lovers don't despair. A wide variety of mobile apps are available just for you!

As I’ve written before, I’m constantly running across interesting websites for book lovers and readers.  Whether it’s unusual gifts for readers, book recommendations or something completely original, I keep an on-going list of such websites to bring them to your attention.

The most recent list is provided below, courtesy of GoneReading.  As always, let me know what you think.  If you have other interesting sites to recommend please comment below!

• If you love literary classics I suggest you check out Bartleby.com, which provides you with online access to countless works from the public domain.  Enjoy unlimited access to an incredible array of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, reference works and more.
• To fulfill your never-ending quest for book recommendations, a host of online review sites have cropped up in recent years. Interestingly, many of these sites have evolved into mini social networks for book lovers.  Check out this list of 5 Social Networks for Book Lovers.
• Similarly, book lovers are benefiting from the hyper-growth in Facebook Apps.  Check out this list of the Top 20 Facebook Apps for Book Lovers.
• Android users, don’t despair.  We’ve also uncovered these 5 Great Android Apps for Book Lovers.
• Interested in taking a bookish vacation?  Check out these literary travel companies: Literary Traveler and Book Lover’s Travel and tell them that GoneReading sent you.
• Lastly, if you’re still in need of book recommendations then visit BookLamp.  Simply type in the names of books you love and it uses proprietary algorithms to make instant recommendations.

Is Amazon's new Kindle Fire the best possible gift for readers this holiday season?

Who still doesn’t want a Kindle?  Even the curmudgeon-iest book lovers among us, the old-school types who love their printed books, are “warming” to the idea of a hot Kindle “Fire” for Christmas.

Bad puns aside, Amazon’s new Kindle Fire - announced just today – will surely be one of the most coveted gifts for readers during the 2011 holiday season.  Although it bears the Kindle name, it’s clearly a new class of product designed to compete head on with Apple’s iPad.

More than an E-reader, the Fire is designed for the consumption of all types of media: “Movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games, web browsing and more,” according to an open letter from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on it’s website.  Readers take note that “books” are listed after movies, TV shows and music.

If you’re looking for multimedia, the Fire might just be for you.  Amazon’s going to sell a crap load of them in the coming months.

If you simply want a great E-reader, however, continue to read below.

What This Book Lover Thinks

More isn’t always better.  As I’ve written before, part of the joy of reading is the simplicity of it.  The ability to “get lost” in the writing cannot be improved upon by any device.  The perfect reader, to me, is one that creates completely unfiltered, undistracted access to the writer’s words.

And that’s why I think the best news from Amazon today is not the new Fire, but the reduced price of the basic Kindle to $79 (with ads; $109 without ads).  The simplicity of the basic Kindle provides you with a better reading experience than any multimedia device.

The new Kindle Touch comes with a 3G option ($149), giving you the ability to download new books from virtually anywhere, in less than a minute.  I’m not interested.  Less is more.

Am I Crazy?

So, do you think I’m crazy?  What do you think about Amazon’s announcement?  And what’s on your wishlist for the holidays?  Let us know by sharing your comments below.

Happy reading!

Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich - The funniest book, according to GoneReading poll.

Try sitting through a newscast these days and I think you’ll agree that we could all use a little laughter.  Between the nonsense of the presidential campaign, the slumbering job market, and the space junk that is literally crashing down upon us, laughter is in high demand.  Seriously.

With exactly this thought in mind, GoneReading recently posed a simple question to our Facebook Fans: “What’s the funniest book you’ve ever read?”

Whether you’re in need of a good laugh yourself, or simply looking for some hysterical gifts for readers in your life, I hope you enjoy the results of our informal poll below.

The Funniest Books

More than 40 different books received votes, but given our dire need of hearty laughter, let’s focus on the top five:

1. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich.  Click here for an independent review by SoniaReviews.
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.  Click here for a review by Ink Slinger.
3. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.  Click here for a review by Jiresell Thoughts.
4. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.  Click here for a review by 101 Books.
5. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding.  Click here for a review by Elle Lit.

About Our Winner

I’m a huge reader that loves to laugh, but I had never even heard of poll winner Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich.  That’s probably going to dumbfound a lot of folks, as Hard Eight earned more than 25% of the total votes in our poll.  This must be a seriously funny read.

Hard Eight is book number eight in Evanovich’s series of 18 novels featuring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, who Wikipedia describes as “A spunky combination of Nancy Drew and Dirty Harry.”  Other books in the Plum series also received votes: Four to Score and something called Finger Lickin’ Fifteen.

You can read more about Stephanie Plum and Hard Eight on Evanovich’s website.

Honorable Mention

Beyond Hard Eight, it was nice to see a few classics earn high marks: Hitchhiker’s (which earned more than 20% of the total votes), Confederacy and Catch are all bona fide classics which have earned their place in literary history.

Beyond the top five, comediennes turned out to be most popular.  Chelsea Handler earned multiple votes for My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands and Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea, as did Bossy Pants by Tina Fey.

So that’s our list.  Remember not to let the nightly news get to you.  And no matter how bad things seem, we all deserve to laugh.

And as one of our Facebook Fans commented, “An author that can make you laugh out loud is to be cherished.”

No joke.

Hey singles, are you interested in dating a book lover?

Hey book lovers!  We continue to find interesting websites that we think you’ll find interesting.  Some useful, some funny, and some just plain weird, I hope you enjoy these little gems from around the web, courtesy of GoneReading!

• If you’re single, or just looking for some new “selling points” with your spouse, check out these 10 Reasons to Date A Book Lover.  It must have been a challenge to whittle this down to just ten, don’t you think?
• Continuing the “dating theme,” website Reading Passions offers “free dating and social networking for singles with a passion for reading”.  Wow, now the Internet is complete.  Has anyone out there ever used Reading Passions?  Let us know how it worked out.
• If you’ve got tons of used books at home (who doesn’t?), you might want to pay attention to Bookfinder’s list of out of print books that are in big demand.  Maybe you’ve got a hidden gem that could earn you some cash.
• Book lovers will get a kick out of this list of 10 Unconventional Bookstores.  From the floating barge bookstore in the U.K., to the bookstore/barber shop combo in Coney Island, you’re sure to crack a smile.
• And lastly, if you read tons of paperbacks but live on a fixed budget (again, who doesn’t, right?) you need to know about PaperBackSwap.com. Thanks to my friend Kate for bringing that one to my attention in her recent guest blog post.

Would you like to have your very own magazine???

This self-professed book lover probably doesn’t write enough about the reading of magazines, something that struck me as I read about an intriguing new app for the iPad called Editions.  The app uses proprietary algorithms and technology to create a totally customized digital magazine for each subscriber, each and every day.

The app claims to “read you” by tracking your reading habits and matching them with recent articles that it believes will be of most interest to you.  Apparently you receive your own customized magazine of 30-40 pages every day at a time of your choosing.

Although I’m not a big magazine reader myself (not to mention that I don’t have an iPad), this technology intrigues me, at least in principle.  30-40 pages each day does seem like a lot of content, too much for me.  But then again, if it’s super-relevant for my needs and interests, it might just be an amazing tool.

Have any of our serious magazine readers out there tried the app?  Let us know how its working for you by commenting below.

You can read all about the new app from AOL, which was brought to our attention by Publishing Perspectives.  Go directly to the Editions website here.

Happy reading!

Interested in the evolution of reading? Read the Boston Globe story below, and check out this product design available for sale at www.GoneReading.com

This week’s edition of Random News for Book Lovers:

• Know any college students?  If so, they’re probably about to plunk down a bunch of cash for text books.  New this year, however, is Amazon’s Kindle Textbook Rental Service, which claims students can save as much as 80% over printed books.  You can read more about it from Publishing Perspectives.  We first heard about the new service from one of our favorite blog sites,  The Librarian Next Door.
• You probably love to read fiction, but we’re always glad to see new evidence that fiction can directly improve our lives.  As recently reported by the BBC News, Keith Oatley, Emeritus Professor of psychology from Toronto University, shows that the reading of fiction improves social interaction and our understanding of other people.  This can help us interact more positively and develop more meaningful relationships with the people in our lives.  Please read more about it in the blog of the Reader Organization.
• As we’re experiencing right now with the hyper-growth of E-readers, reading-related technology changes over time.  Book lovers will be glad to know that The Boston Globe has published a three-part series on the evolution of reading over the centuries.  It’s fascinating stuff.  We first heard about the story from A Writer’s Desk (a terrific source of info for those who love to read and write).
• Did you know that Fabio of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter fame is now a published author?  I certainly didn’t.  Does he have what it takes to write a great book, or can anyone write a book these days?  Check out this interesting story by The New Yorker, and you be the judge.  Ever read one of his books?  Please share your thoughts by commenting below.
• Frequent readers of this blog know that I’m a huge advocate of audio books, especially when it comes to making use of downtime during long commutes or travel.  Many have a tough time making the transition to audio, but the folks at Devourer of Books have provided some helpful information on how (and why) to enjoy audio books.  Check it out, and share your own thoughts by commenting below!